File.



Patented Sept. 23, |902.

G. H. KRAVIK.

FILE.

(Application fild Mar. 2l, 1900. Renewed Apr. 16, 1901.)

v (No Model.)

UNITED STATES lDaTnwT @Trina GJERMUND II. KRAVIK, OF BELVIEV, MINNESOTA.

FILE.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 709,640, dated September 23, 1902.

Application filed March 21, 1900. Renewed April 16. 1901. Serial No. 56,167. (No model.)

To @ZZ whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, GJ ERMUND H. KRAVIK, a citizen of the United States, residing at Belview, in the county of Redwood and State of Minnesota, have invented a new and useful File, of which the following is a speciication. This invention relates to an improvement in files, and has a special reference to animproved device which may properly be termed a combined ledger iile and index.

The invention has in view the provision of simple and expeditious means for keeping accounts and indexing the same, whereby they can be found and examined with facility and closed accounts removed and new accounts inserted ad Zt'bttum, while at the same time retaining the proper alphabetical arrangement of the accounts, thus saving all of the time and labor usually expended in the keeping of an index.

In the ordinary system of keeping accounts, where the usual ledger is employed with a large number of accounts, these accounts are entered in the ledger from time to time as they occur and an alphabetical index containing the account names is necessary in connection with the ledger. Huch time is usually lost in examining the index to nd accounts and in turning over the pages of the ledger for any work that is necessary to be done upon open accounts.

It is therefore the purpose of the present invention to provide an improved tile based upon the card-index system and involving the employment of individual iile-wrappers for each persons account, which file-Wrappers are designed to be placed in alphabetical or indexed order in a suitable cabinet or case and constructed so asA to be capable of holding sales-slips or the like, besides having a ledger-ruled page or face to which may be posted or transferred the total amount of each sales slip or data, either at the time of placing the sales slip or data in the tile-wrapper or at any other convenient time, thereby providing in each individual file or le-wrapper the complete ledger-account, together with the itemized entry of original charge of a particular person.

'Vith these and other objects in view the invention consists in the novel construction, combination, and arrangement of parts, hereinafter more fully described, illustrated, and claimed.

The essential features of the invention embodied in the constructionof the individual files or die-wrappers are necessarily susceptible to some modification without departing from the invention; but the preferred em.bodi ment of the improvements is shown in the accompanying drawings, in which Figure l is a perspective View of a single file drawer or box containing an alphabetically-arranged series of individual iles or tilewrappers constructed in accordance with the present invention. Fig. 2 is a detail in perspective of one of the individual file-Wrappers in its closed condition. Fig. 3 is a similar view of a file-wrapper opened up and eX- posing the manner of detachably holding the duplicate sales-slips and also the ledger-account upon one page or leaf of the wrapper. Fig. 4 is a detail sectional view on the line 4 4E of Fig. 3. Fig. 5 is a similar View on the line 5 5 of Fig. 3.

Like numerals of reference designate corresponding parts in the several figures of the drawings.

In carrying out the invention a number of individual file-wrappers l are arranged in alphabetical or indexed order within a filing drawer, box, or receptacle 2 and which may or may not be placed in a suitable lingcabinet, which may be of a duplex or single form without affecting the invention, it only being necessary to the successful carrying out of the invention that a drawer, box, or receptacle be employed which is open at the upper side to expose the name-strips of the individual nie-wrappers, aswell as the reference-tabs of the index-cards, to facilitate the linding of any desired individual file-wrapper. The series of individual file-wrappers l within the iiling drawer, box, or receptacle 2 are grouped in alphabetical order, and the different alphabetical groups are separated by the index-cards 3, interposed between the groups and provided at their top edges with the projecting reference-tabs et, which extend above the contiguous top edges of the individual tile-Wrappers and have placed thereon the reference-letter designating the positions of the group of individual tile-Wrappers containing the accounts of the persons whose IOC names begin with the said reference-letter. This order is similar to the card system of indexing; but in carrying out the present invention the reference-tabs 4 of the indexcards are preferably located at a central point between the side edges of the cards, so as to be permanently exposed to view and not covered by the name-strips 5, projectiugfrom the top edges of the individual file-wrappers and having placed thereon the name of the person whose ledger-account is contained Within such file-wrapper. At this point it may be explained that the name-strips 5 of adjacent file-wrappers project from opposite portions thereof, so that the said name-strips of all of the file-wrappers will be alternately located at opposite sides of the central line of the lile drawer or receptaele,or,in other words, alternately at opposite sides of the line of reference-tabs 4 of the index-cards-that is to say, the reference-tabs 4 of the indexcards 3 are displayed within a longitudinal vista formed at the middle of the cabinet between the inner ends of the name-strips, so that while the index-cards serve to divide the tile-Wrappers into properly-designated groups the reference character or designation will be displayed within a well-defined vista. This arrangement greatly facilitates not only the locating with dispatch of a particular alphabetical group, but any individual account or file within such group.

Referring particularly to the preferred construction of each individual ile or file-Wrapper 1, it will be observed that the same consists of a folded body forming therein a pocket for holding data belonging to the file, and said folded body is preferably made of a sheet of sti paper, cardboard, or equivalent material scored or bent atlan intermediate point, as at 6, to constitute a hinge connection between the front and back leaves 7 and S, respectively, of the file-Wrapper body. The said file-wrapper body is preferably of a rectangular configuration, and at the upper edge of the back leaf 8 of the body the said back leaf is provided with an inwardly-folding hinged clip-flap 9, which is yieldingly restrained or held against the inner side of the back leaf, at the upper edge thereof, by means of an elastic fastener l0, preferably in the form of an elastic loop, having the terminal portions loosely passing through the oppositely-arranged openings l1 in` the said fiap 9 and secured beneath said fiap to a lixed point of attachment, as at 12, on the inner side of the back leaf of the file-wrapper. The normal tension of the elastic fastener 10 closes the flap 9 upon the back leaf, so that the said ap may be clipped upon the edges of the loose sales-slips 13 or other data which it is desired to hold within the filewrapper and from which total amounts are transferred to the ledger-account. The said clip-flap 9 is provided at its free edge with a flexible pullpiece 14, which may be grasped by the iingers to draw the liap outwardly from the back leaf to permit of the insertion of a sales-slip or the like, and by releasing the hold upon the said pull-piece 14 the elastic fastener 10 draws the flap back to its normal position. The two leaves 7 and 8 of the file-wrapper are approximately coextensive in size, and the front leaf 7 is provided on the inner side thereof with a ledger-ruled page 15, integral with or separate from the leaf 7 and upon which when the file-wrapper is opened up the total amounts may be transferred from the sales-slips held upon the'back leaf by the clip-flap 9. The said front leaf 7 is further provided atthe upper orswinging edge thereof with a short projecting catch-tongue 16,adapt ed to be inserted or caught beneath the looped elastic fastening 10, which therefore serves to also hold the file-wrapper closed when in position within the tile drawer or box. Certain of the tiles have their front leaves 7 cnt away at their upper edges, where the said catch-tongues 16 are located, to form the projecting name-strips 5, as shown in Fig. 2 of drawings; but in other files these strips may project from the top edge of the back leaf or simply from different portions of the front leaf to preserve the alternate arrangement of the name-strips, as hereinbefore referred to. vThe preferable construction, however, has been illustrated, namely--to project the name-strips 5 from the top edge of the front leaf 7.

In the ordinary use of the file in place of posting from the duplicate sales books or slips to the ordinary ledger or entry from the duplicating sales books or slips to the journal and intermediate books it is simply necessary to have duplicate sales-slips or the like of a size suitable to be placed within the individual file-wrappers and held by the clipfiaps thereof, and then the total amounts may be conveniently Vtransferred to the ledgerruled page of the file. Any other approved way of using the files may be resorted to without affecting the invention.

It has already been explained that the ledger-ruled page 15 may be integral with or separate from the leaf 7, carrying the same, and at this point it may be further stated that when the ledger-ruled page is full another ledger-ruled leaf may be glued or otherwise suitably attached to the leaf 7 of the wrapper, so that the tile will still subserve its usual function.

From the foregoing it is thought that the construction, use, and many advantages of the herein-described file will be readily apparent to those familiar with the art without further description, and it will be understood that-various changes in the form, proportion, and minor details of construction may be resorted to without departing from the principle or sacrificing any of the advantages of this invention.

Having thus described the invention, what is claimed as new, and desired to be secured by Letters Patent, is

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l. In an accounting system, the combination With a iling-cabinet, of a series of file- Wrappers arranged therein, each of said Wrappers comprising a pair of leaves hinged together at their bottom edges and provided upon their inner or opposed faces With a ledger-ruled page and a retaining device for loose sales-slips, respectively, means forliolding the leaves of each Wrapper in closed position, and naineestrips extending from the several le Wrappers and disposed alternately at the opposite sides of the cabinet.

2. In an accounting system, the combination with a cabinet, and a series of file-Wrap pers therein provided With name-strips eX- tended above the Wrappers and arranged alternately at opposite sides of the cabinet to leave a vista at the middle of the cabinet between the inner ends of the name-strips, of index-cards arranged Within the cabinet and separating the Wrappers into alphabetically or otherwise designated groups, referencetabs formed on the index-cards and displayed Within the vista, said filing-Wrappers each comprising a pair of hinged leaves, one having a clamp for loose sales-slips or like data, and the other having on its inner face a ledger-ruled page, and means for holding the leaves of each Wrapper in closed position to facilitate its removal from and its replacement Within the cabinet.

3. An individual file for filing systems comprising a pair of leaves hinged together at one edge, one of said leaves being provided with a holder for loose file-data, andthe other leaf being provided With a` locking element, and a name strip or tab projecting beyond said element, and a fastener carried by one of the leaves and arranged to engage with the locking element of the opposing leaf.

4. An individual ile for filing systems oomprising a folded body consisting of front and back leaves hinged together, the front leaf being provided at one end With an inturned hinged clip-flap, and the other leaf beingl provided at one edge with a projecting catchtongue, and an elastic fastener engaging with the clip-flap, and also with said catch-tongue, substantially as set forth.

In testimony that I claim the foregoing as my oWn I have hereto afixed my signature in vthe presence of two Witnesses.

GJERMUND H. KRAVIK. Witnesses:

J. S. GUNELsoN, A. D. GIMMEsTAD. 

